(Reuters) - Police arrested four former editors from the Sunday Mirror tabloid on Thursday - the first journalists from a newspaper outside Rupert Murdoch's News Corp to be detained in a phone hacking scandal that shocked Britain.

Shares in Trinity Mirror fell 21 percent, wiping over 60 million pounds ($90 million) off its value after police said they were looking into a suspected conspiracy at its Mirror Group between 2003 and 2004 to intercept telephone voicemails.

Revelations about journalists hacking mobile phones - not only those of celebrities and politicians, but also crime victims, including a murdered schoolgirl - caused public outrage that led to the closure in July 2011 of Murdoch's News of the World - Britain's largest circulation paper at the time.

A public inquiry into press standards led to calls for better regulation of the news media and embarrassed Britain's political elite by revealing close relations between ruling politicians and newspaper editors and owners.

The issue is still a potentially dangerous one for Prime Minister David Cameron who had close ties to editors at the News of the World.

On Thursday he abruptly ended cross-party talks on press oversight and tabled a vote on light-touch rules, rather than the stronger legislation which some experts say is needed to curb media abuse - prompting allegations he is in thrall to the press barons.

Officers from the police's hacking inquiry - known as Operation Weeting - arrested the Mirror Group journalists at their London homes on suspicion of conspiracy to intercept telephone communications.

Mirror Group Newspapers includes three national titles: the Daily Mirror, the Sunday Mirror and the Sunday People.

Those arrested on Thursday were: the People's current editor James Scott and his deputy Nick Buckley, former Sunday Mirror editor Tina Weaver and former People editor Mark Thomas, Trinity Mirror Chief Executive Simon Fox told staff in an email, a source told Reuters.

Scott and Thomas are former deputy editors of the Sunday Mirror and Buckley was previously the paper's head of news. Weaver left the company last May when the group merged its Daily Mirror and Sunday Mirror tabloids into a 7-day operation.

"We take any allegation against employees very seriously and are co-operating with the police on this matter," Trinity Mirror said in a statement.

Trinity Mirror has previously said there was no evidence its journalists had hacked any phones.

But the group's shares lost around 17 million pounds in value in October when a lawyer who handled many of the original phone-hacking cases filed legal claims against Trinity Mirror on behalf of four people, including the former England football manager Sven-Goran Eriksson.

Tens of people from Murdoch's British tabloids have been arrested for hacking voice messages and for conspiring to make payments to public officials.

March
14 2013 - 5 Of Piers Morgan's Ex-Colleagues At The Mirror Have Now Been Arrested In Phone Hacking Scandal

Five employees who worked at The Trinity Mirror newspaper group have now been arrested in connection with the celebrity phone-hacking scandal, Bloomberg reports.
CNN host Piers Morgan is a former editor of The Mirror, and of the News of the World, the Rupert Murdoch paper that was shuttered when the scandal first broke. To be clear, Morgan has not been accused of any wrongdoing. But Bloomberg says "a former Daily Mirror reporter later testified ... that hacking took place on a daily basis among the newspaper’s show-business reporters."

How, exactly, Morgan got one of his most famous voicemail-related scoops remains shrouded in mystery. When asked under oath at the British parliament's inquiry as to how he listened to a voicemail of Paul McCartney pleading with his former wife Heather Mills, he declined to answer, saying only: "I'm not going to start any trail that leads to the identification of a source."

Morgan has previously denied he published any story based on hacking: "I have never hacked a phone, told anyone to hack a phone, nor to my knowledge published any story obtained from the hacking of a phone."

But that denial will take some explaining in the light of these previously reported events:
Former NOTW reporter Paul McMullan officially linked Morgan's name to Lord Justice Leveson's probe of tabloid phone hacking. Here's exactly what McMullan said: "My first editor, Piers Morgan, very much set the trend. He was, 'I want that story at all costs. I don't care what you had to do to get that story.'"

Morgan and the 13th person arrested in the scandal, James Desborough, both worked at News Corp.'s News of the World and both worked on the story of Paul McCartney's divorce from Heather Mills, which is said to be based on voicemails.
Morgan has denied listening to Mills' voicemails even though in 2006 he relished retailing an anecdote in which he was somehow able to listen to Mill's voicemails of McCartney pleading with her to come back to him.

James Hipwell, a financial journalist under Morgan at The Mirror, said at the time that hacking was regarded as "a bit of a wheeze."

Hipwell said in 2006 that he hacked the phone of the Spice Girls and other stars.

Mirror showbiz reporter James "Scottie" Scott said earlier this year that he assisted on one of the biggest scoops the Mirror published under Morgan's tenure
- the voicemails of England football coach Sven-Goran Ericksson's affair with a TV presenter.

Morgan boasted of this in the Daily Mail in 2009.

The same year, Morgan told the BBC that he knew of hacking going on.

In 2011, he told Naomi Campbell, in GQ magazine, the same thing.

In 2005, he wrote in his autobiography that he knew how to hack a phone.

In 2007, he told the U.K. Press Gazette that "everyone" in London's newspaper business knew hacking was going on.

Morgan is alleged to have close ties with the Rupert Murdoch family and defended them in the media against suggestions that they were more involved in the News International phone hacking scandal than they claimed.

During Morgan's tenure as editor, the Daily Mirror was advised by Steven Nott that voicemail interception was possible by means of a standard PIN code. Despite staff initially expressing enthusiasm for the story it did not appear in the paper, although it did subsequently feature in a South Wales Argus article and on BBC Radio 5 Live in October 1999. On 18 July 2011 Nott was visited by officers of Operation Weeting.

On 13 July 2011 the political blogger Paul Staines alleged that Morgan published a story while knowing it to have been obtained by phone hacking while editor of the Daily Mirror in 2002.

Morgan described in a 2006 article he wrote for the Daily Mail how he had heard tapes of messages that Paul McCartney had left for his wife, Heather Mills, on her mobile phone. Morgan wrote that "Stories soon emerged that the marriage was in trouble – at one stage I was played a tape of a message Paul had left for Heather on her mobile phone. It was heartbreaking. The couple had clearly had a tiff, Heather had fled to India, and Paul was pleading with her to come back. He sounded lonely, miserable and desperate, and even sang "We Can Work It Out" into the answerphone." He came under criticism for his "boasting" about phone hacking from Conservative MP Louise Mensch, who has since apologised for these accusations.

On 20 December 2011 Morgan was a witness by satellite link from the United States at the Leveson Inquiry. While he did "not believe to the best of my recollection" that phone hacking had occurred at the Mirror, he admitted to listening to the voice mail left by Paul McCartney for Heather Mills, but refused to "discuss where he was played that tape or who played it – it would compromise a source." Appearing as a witness at the same Inquiry on 9 February 2012, Mills was asked under oath if she had ever made a recording of Paul McCartney's phonecalls or answerphone messages and had ever played it to Piers Morgan or "anybody else", she replied: "Never". Mills told the inquiry that Morgan was "a man that has written nothing but awful things about me for years and would have relished telling the inquiry if I had played a personal voicemail message to him".

On 23 May 2012, the Newsnight presenter Jeremy Paxman was a witness at the Leveson Inquiry. He recalled a lunch with the Mirror editor in September 2002 at which Morgan outlined the means of hacking into a mobile phone.

On 28 November 2012 the Channel 4 documentary Taking on the Tabloids, fronted by actor and phone-hacking victim Hugh Grant, showed footage from a 2003 interview with Morgan by the singer and phone-hacking victim Charlotte Church, during which he explained to her how to avoid anwserphone messages being listened to by journalists. He said: “You can access voicemails by typing in a number. Now, are you really telling me that journalists aren’t going to do that?"

The following day (29 November 2012) the official findings of the Leveson Inquiry were released, in which Lord Justice Leveson said Morgan's testimony under oath on phone hacking was "utterly unpersuasive. This was not, in any sense at all, a convincing answer" and "What it does, however, clearly prove is that he was aware that it was taking place in the press as a whole and that he was sufficiently unembarrassed by what was criminal behaviour that he was prepared to joke about it."

PHONE HACKING ALLEGATIONS

Morgan is alleged to have close ties with the Rupert Murdoch family and defended them in the media against suggestions that they were more involved in the News International phone hacking scandal than they claimed.

During Morgan's tenure as editor, the Daily Mirror was advised by Steven Nott that voicemail interception was possible by means of a standard PIN code. Despite staff initially expressing enthusiasm for the story it did not appear in the paper, although it did subsequently feature in a South Wales Argus article and on BBC Radio 5 Live in October 1999. On 18 July 2011 Nott was visited by officers of Operation Weeting.

On 13 July 2011 the political blogger Paul Staines alleged that Morgan published a story while knowing it to have been obtained by phone hacking while editor of the Daily Mirror in 2002.

Morgan described in a 2006 article he wrote for the Daily Mail how he had heard tapes of messages that Paul McCartney had left for his wife, Heather Mills, on her mobile phone. Morgan wrote that "Stories soon emerged that the marriage was in trouble – at one stage I was played a tape of a message Paul had left for Heather on her mobile phone. It was heartbreaking. The couple had clearly had a tiff, Heather had fled to India, and Paul was pleading with her to come back. He sounded lonely, miserable and desperate, and even sang "We Can Work It Out" into the answerphone." He came under criticism for his "boasting" about phone hacking from Conservative MP Louise Mensch, who has since apologised for these accusations.

On 20 December 2011 Morgan was a witness by satellite link from the United States at the Leveson Inquiry. While he did "not believe to the best of my recollection" that phone hacking had occurred at the Mirror, he admitted to listening to the voice mail left by Paul McCartney for Heather Mills, but refused to "discuss where he was played that tape or who played it – it would compromise a source." Appearing as a witness at the same Inquiry on 9 February 2012, Mills was asked under oath if she had ever made a recording of Paul McCartney's phonecalls or answerphone messages and had ever played it to Piers Morgan or "anybody else", she replied: "Never". Mills told the inquiry that Morgan was "a man that has written nothing but awful things about me for years and would have relished telling the inquiry if I had played a personal voicemail message to him".

On 23 May 2012, the Newsnight presenter Jeremy Paxman was a witness at the Leveson Inquiry. He recalled a lunch with the Mirror editor in September 2002 at which Morgan outlined the means of hacking into a mobile phone.

On 28 November 2012 the Channel 4 documentary Taking on the Tabloids, fronted by actor and phone-hacking victim Hugh Grant, showed footage from a 2003 interview with Morgan by the singer and phone-hacking victim Charlotte Church, during which he explained to her how to avoid anwserphone messages being listened to by journalists. He said: “You can access voicemails by typing in a number. Now, are you really telling me that journalists aren’t going to do that?"

The following day (29 November 2012) the official findings of the Leveson Inquiry were released, in which Lord Justice Leveson said Morgan's testimony under oath on phone hacking was "utterly unpersuasive. This was not, in any sense at all, a convincing answer" and "What it does, however, clearly prove is that he was aware that it was taking place in the press as a whole and that he was sufficiently unembarrassed by what was criminal behaviour that he was prepared to joke about it."

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Journalists

Reuters
has a team of several thousand journalists, who, over the years, have
covered every big news event, sometimes at the cost of their lives. In May
2000 Kurt Schork, an American
reporter, was killed in an ambush while on assignment in Sierra Leone. In
April and August 2003, news cameramen Taras Protsyuk and Mazen Dana were
lost at the hands of the US forces in Iraq.
During 2004, the company lost cameramen Adlan Khasanov in Chechnya and
Dhia Najim in Iraq.

The
first Reuters journalist to be taken hostage in action was Anthony Grey.
Detained while covering the Cultural Revolution in Peking in the late
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by the colonial British Government in Hong
Kong. He was considered to be the first political hostage of the
modern age and was eventually released after almost 2 years solitary
confinement. Awarded an OBE
by the British Government in recognition of this, he went on to become a
best selling author.

His
barrister didn't challenge the so-called scientific evidence produced at
trial. He should have. It was junk science. [Junk science is bogus
forensic information that the police use to gain a conviction, where they
have a weak case.] His barrister didn't show the jury the accused'
diaries, he should have, because the girl's mother reminded the accused to
send Valentines cards every year - which she, err, seems to have forgotten
to mention to the court. She also forgot to tell the prosecution
about the existence of her own diaries. These diaries reveal that the
accused was not alone with the girl as she had claimed. Why do you suppose
her mother might hide this information?

The
accused was instructed not to venture why the girl should make up her
story by his barrister, but of course he has a good idea. Sadly, that
cannot be revealed just yet for legal reasons. He did say he could forgive
a 15 year old for some kind of unthinking hormone driven revenge for not
doing what she had wanted, but not a mature woman - who would have known
better. The accused had refused to get together with the girls mother. The
girl wanted the accused to get together with her mother. It's an or-else
situation and the accused was threatened - which information the defence
lawyers failed to introduce - despite instructions to the contrary.

Local
newspapers breached a Court Order prohibiting publication, and published
mid-trial, which to us seem the most damaging time to publish, to
virtually guarantee conviction. Nearly all the local papers published at
the same time - in orchestrated fashion - obviously from a shared source;
presumably the reporter attending. Is that responsible reporting?

Once
they had convicted the victim of this injustice, the Crown tried to
prevent him publishing his story. Why would they do that? Fortunately,
Judge Cedric Joseph (this was his last case) was persuaded by barrister
Michael Harrison, that that would breach the chaps human rights. The Judge
agreed, subject to not naming the girl or her mother.

We
think that the Crown's reluctance is to do with the way they obtained
their conviction. It was based on medical testimony, which itself was
based on out of date guidance from the Royal College of Paediatric and
Child Health from 1997. New guidance was issued in 2008, just one month
after the trial. Why did the Crown not wait the extra month before going
to trial? Well, we know the answer to that, the new guidance confirmed
that certain internal marks are naturally occurring. The prosecution told
the jury (or, rather, allowed their pet witness to say it for them - which
amounts to the same thing) that they were supportive of the allegations -
which was a deception on the part of the Crown.

They
Crown had kept the defence waiting for more than 18 months and delayed
matters by refusing to hand back vital computer information that they'd
confiscated - claiming they might find pornographic images. Of course the
Crown were just making this up and instead of letting the jury know that
none of the accused' computers were image free, they refused to confirm
the results of their investigations! Don't you think the jury should have
known that this mans' computers were clean?

You'll
have to wait for the subject's appeals in the ECHR to conclude before this
book is published. Maybe then we'll see an official version in 2016/2017?
European appeals take 4 years on average, from the date of lodge. But
first you have to exhaust any domestic remedy. He has finally, as of
February 2013.

This
man served nearly four years for a crime he did not commit. If
you would like to know more about this developing story, please Contact
Us.